Federal Secret Societies, Gambling and Vice (D7) CID principal assistant director, Datuk Abdul Jalil Hassan said they also liked the climate here which was not far different from China's, especially southern China's.
"They speak Mandarin, which makes it easy for them to mix with the local Chinese community and their food back home is almost similar to the Chinese food here.
"The availability of budget flights and Internet access are also catalysts for them to come to this country," he told Bernama.
Abdul Jalil said the revelation was made after police interrogated 13 prostitutes detained for abusing their student visas and social visit passes at a massage parlour in Sri Petaling on Feb 16.
He said the preliminary investigation found that these women who worked through syndicates, would return to Malaysia on student visas and resume working as freelance prostitutes as the earnings were lucrative.
Abdul Jalil said most of the Chinese nationals interrogated used student visas to enable them to enter the country unimpeded.
According to the latest D7 statistics, Chinese nationals made up the most number of people arrested for prostitution at 653 from January to February 15.
This was followed by those from Vietnam (367), Thailand (300), Indonesia (177), the Philippines (55), Uzbekistan (19), Myanmar (14), Cambodia (10), Bangladesh (nine), Mongolia (six), Nigeria and Sri Langka (four each), and India (one).
The highest number of arrests involved Chinese nationals at 5,753 in 2009, 6,378 in 2010 and 5,922 in 2011. -- BERNAMA
